The biggest secondary school in Brighton and Hove may change its admissions rules to give a higher priority to children who are eligible for free school meals.
Cardinal Newman Catholic School, in The Upper Drive, Hove, sets its own admissions criteria as a faith school and gives the highest priority to children who are or were in council care.
It proposes giving the next highest priority to baptised Catholic children who are eligible for free school meals in the event of more applications than places.
The current second priority will also continue to be given to Catholic children who are considered to have an exceptional or compelling need, supported by written evidence.
The third, fourth and fifth “oversubscription criteria” would remain the same – Catholic children with siblings at the school, Catholic children attending named feeder schools and Catholic children not attending a feeder school.
Children who are in the process of joining the Catholic church or who are members of an Orthodox church would be the sixth priority.
And children who are eligible for free school meals but who are not Catholic would have the next priority if year 7 places are oversubscribed, along with those considered to have an exceptional or compelling need.
Further criteria include other children with siblings at the school, the children of staff, other children at named feeder schools, children of other Christian denominations and then those of other faiths.
The proposed changes come after Brighton and Hove City Council started giving higher priority to pupils eligible for free school meals who were applying for a secondary school place from next September.
Cardinal Newman was recently rated “outstanding” by the official education watchdog Ofsted after a formal inspection.
It has a published admission number of 360 for each year group and, according to the Ofsted report last month, a total of 2,507 pupils in all.
The total includes 678 sixth formers on the roll at Newman College, making it the largest Catholic school in England.
The school received the most “first choice” applications for the intake in September 2024, with 466 applications for the 360 available places.
It was a similar story the year before when it proved to be the most popular secondary school in Brighton and Hove.
It consistently reports some of the best state school exam results in the local area and draws children not just from Brighton and Hove but places such as Lewes, Seaford and Shoreham.
The proposed changes to the admissions criteria are the subject of a consultation which closes on Monday 6 January.
For more information, visit the admissions section of the school’s website or email admissions@cncs.co.uk.
